1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to sensors used for sensing physiological parameters of a patient.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, doctors often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring many such characteristics of a patient. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modern medicine.
One technique for monitoring certain physiological characteristics of a patient is commonly referred to as pulse oximetry, and the devices built based upon pulse oximetry techniques are commonly referred to as pulse oximeters. Pulse oximetry may be used to measure various blood flow characteristics, such as the blood oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supplying the tissue, and/or the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heart beat of a patient. In fact, the “pulse” in pulse oximetry refers to the time varying amount of arterial blood in the tissue during each cardiac cycle.
Pulse oximeters typically utilize a non-invasive sensor that transmits or reflects electromagnetic radiation, such as light, through a patient's tissue and that photoelectrically detects the absorption and scattering of the transmitted or reflected light in such tissue. One or more of the above physiological characteristics may then be calculated based upon the amount of light absorbed and scattered. More specifically, the light passed through or reflected from the tissue is typically selected to be of one or more wavelengths that may be absorbed and scattered by the blood in an amount correlative to the amount of blood constituent present in the tissue. The measured amount of light absorbed and scattered may then be used to estimate the amount of blood constituent in the tissue using various algorithms.
Certain events can create error in these measurements. For example, pulse oximetry measurements may be sensitive to movement of the sensor relative to the patient's tissue, and various types of motion may cause artifacts that may obscure the blood constituent signal. Specifically, motion artifacts may be caused by moving a sensor in relation to the tissue, increasing or decreasing the physical distance between emitters and detectors in a sensor, changing the angles of incidents and interfaces probed by the light, directing the optical path through different amounts or types of tissue, and by expanding, compressing, or otherwise altering tissue near a sensor.
Pulse oximetry may utilize light sources that emit in at least two different or spectral regions, one that emits in the red region (typically about 660 nm) and one in the near infrared region (typically about 890-940 nm). Typically, LEDs are used as light sources and are held in close proximity, i.e., optically coupled, to a tissue location being probed. In the context of pulse oximetry, optical coupling refers to a relationship between the sensor and the patient, permitting the sensor to transmit light into the patient's blood profused tissue and permitting a portion of the light to return to the sensor after passing through or reflecting from within the tissue. The quality of the optical coupling of the emitters and detectors is related to the amount of light that actually enters the patient's tissue and the portion of the light received by the sensor that passes through the patient's blood profused tissue. As described earlier, motion and/or the application of excessive pressure can have the effect of changing the relative optical coupling efficiency of the light sources and the detector. Even when two LEDs are mounted side by side, motion induced changes in optical efficiency have resulted in distortions of the photoplethysmographs produced by the two LEDs. The result of poor coupling, therefore, is a decrease in the accuracy of the sensor.
Homogenizing the light sources using optical coupling devices is one way of mitigating the effect of motion-induced changes in optical efficiency on the accuracy of a pulse oximeter. Such techniques, however, generally require careful optical alignment, tend to be expensive, or reduce the optical coupling efficiency into the tissue.
Sensor-to-sensor spectral variation of light sources used for oximeter sensors may also affect a pulse oximeter's accuracy. Because hemoglobin (HbO2 and HHb) spectra vary more rapidly as a function of wavelength at approximately 660 nm than at approximately 940 nm, the precise spectral content of the 660 nm light source is more critical. Current manufacturing processes used to produce 660 nm LEDs result in a wide distribution of spectral content, potentially necessitating modification of the calibration model according to actual spectral content of the 660 nm source, thus adding cost to the system. Alternatively, choosing only LEDs that emit in a narrow wavelength range would result in low production yields and higher sensor cost. Thus, costs are incurred either by limiting the range of wavelengths to reduce the need for calibration, or by allowing for a wider spectral content and inserting calibration models.